


Open doors

by lovelly



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: All of the triggers of Tartarus, Angst, Coma, Horror, Initially just will/nico for an entire half of the series so a little bit of, M/M, Multi, No sexual assault, OT3, Slow Burn, Two Years past BoO, aged-up, dream walking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 18:51:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16143335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelly/pseuds/lovelly
Summary: After a mysterious creature traps Clovis in Nico's memories of Tartarus, its up to Nico and Will to figure out what the hell is going on.





	Open doors

**Author's Note:**

> First time posting any of my fics, comment if you enjoy!

Contrary to popular belief, children of Hypnos didn’t particularly like to sleep.

In fact, if you ever bothered to ask one how they felt about their perpetual need for sleep, they would look at you with droopy eyes and an ironic smile before saying “Actually, I kinda resent it.”

At least, that’s what Clovis would do.

Clovis knows that he misses out on a lot of things because of his sleep: conversations, hobbies, school lessons, meals, and, well, friends. He knows he misses out on a lot important things because of his powers.

But, while leading 11 year old Chloe Beumont out of a nightmare that tastes like pennies and smells like wet fur, Clovis thinks the missed opportunities might be worth this chance to help even one person.

Her hand feels deathly cold in his and her sparkly, baby blue nail polish just adds to the image. He knows she’s trembling, but he can feel her determination trailing behind her like dust, the same way it always does after he pulls her out of her mind. With every step closer to the warmth of his cabin she pulls herself together, and like every time before Clovis doesn’t look at her while she surreptitiously wipes away her tears.

The Aphrodite children resent being seen as weak and Clovis respects that, enough to not look at her while she’s vulnerable. That doesn’t mean he won’t slow down for her shorter legs though. Even after two summers of this Clovis is still a little awed by the strength of Aphrodite children. It is his firm belief that only the ignorant can say that they're anything but tenacious.

Under their feet the dark ground becomes familiar brown floorboards, and Clovis pulls them through the only entrance. They come up beside the fireplace where his leather armchair sits, and past that rows of bunks stretch into the fire warmed shadows of the Hypnos cabin. Quietly, he leads her down the rows of sleeping demigods. They come to a stop beside a bunk where an older, dark haired girl lays with a hot pink sleep mask covering her eyes. Soft but decidedly unattractive snores spill from the girl’s open mouth. By now, Chloe’s shaking has calmed to just a tremor in her little hands. Clovis gives her a conspiratorial smile before kneeling beside the bunk and beginning to poke Drew Tanaka in the cheek.

After ten steady pokes Drew wakes with a snort and bats his hand away. The mask gets lifted by one manicured nail and Clovis finds himself on the receiving end of a sleepy glare.

“Oh, it’s just you.” She says nastily, not bothering to whisper, but the effect is lost when Clovis ripples the dream by wiggling his fingers in Drew’s face. Chloe giggles at the sight of Drew’s hair rucking up into a frizzy beehive fresh from the 60’s.

Drew finally notices Chloe (but not her own hair) and a disgruntled look crosses her face. She lets out a loud sigh and scoots closer to the wall her bunk is pressed against, her mask coming back down as she settles.

“You getting in or what?” Chloe scrambles into the bed and under the feather soft covers, flopping down on her back and giving Clovis a grin.

“Thank you.” Her whispering voice sounds like a clear bell, and Clovis feels satisfied.

“Anytime.” He promises, and Chloe turns her back on Clovis to curl at Drew’s side. Quiet as a mouse he makes his way back to the fireplace and his armchair, passing demi-god after demi-god.

In reality, the Hynos cabin is only home to three demi-gods, but by Clovis’ count there are about 46 demi-gods in this dreamscape replica of the Hypnos cabin. With amusement Clovis changes his count to 47 when he notices that a Hermes boy he didn’t guide here is sleeping in one of the bunks. The kids in that cabin have always managed to find this place on their own, and since this dreamscape is of Clovis’ own making only demi-gods looking for a safe dream to join can get in. And, even if anything else were to get in, the dreamscape would just shatter. Everyone in the dream would wake up and they would be safe.

Since the first time Clovis came to camp he’s had this dreamscape, but he didn’t always lead people to it for safe dreaming. Honestly, he hadn't even known he could until the first time he was asked to help someone out with their nightmares. But ever since then he’s been doing this almost every night; pulling people from their nightmares and the memories of the battles they've fought, into the safety of his dreams. He was glad that he could be useful for once.

He yawns and stretches in front of his chair but doesn't get to sit in it before he freezes, goosebumps raising along his arms. Despite the warm fire burning less than ten feet away, a chill sets into his bones as if he had been dipped in the ocean and left to freeze on the wet sand of the beach. He frowns as he looks to the entrance of the dream where the boundary blurs, staring into the inky darkness beyond. He can sense a nightmare out there, one full of anxiety pulled as taut as a guitar string, and filled with chittering whispers that drift Clovis’ way.

He was thankful that he was the only person in this dreamscape that could sense the nightmare, because he recognized who's it was, and he highly doubted Nico di Angelo wanted anyone to know about his nightmares. Clovis hesitates, but eventually - just like the night before, and the night before that, and the night before that - he steps past the threshold of his dream and into the space between. A few long strides into the absence and he can see Nico’s nightmare.

Clovis had always found it easier to visualize other people's dreams as doorways, something only Hypnos kids could do, and by now he could recognize the owners just by the kind of sensation they throw off. Nico’s doorway towered over Clovis as if it was made for a teenaged cyclops and looked like a wall of solid matte obsidian. Black smoke curled off of its surface like dry ice and it had no doorknob. He stops within arms reach of it, and glances back to where he knows his cabin is. It looked less like a door and more like a monument to something absolutely terrible.

He really shouldn't even be out here. Nico hadn't given him permission to interfere with his nightmares. In fact, Nico hadn't even approached Clovis about his nightmares. Clovis wasn't sure how to feel about that, because just the doorway to Nico’s nightmares was on his Top Ten Most Terrifying Things I Have Encountered Ever list (even though it was by no means the most gruesome door he’d seen, but the cold loneliness it released resonated with Clovis in a way he didn't like to think about) and if Nico didn't know that getting help from him was even an option? Clovis was kinda stuck.

He rarely does the approaching, and it's always with the younger campers, half because he would have to reveal exactly how much he knew about their nightmares, and half because he knew most people weren't interested in trusting the dullest crayon in the box with something as personal as their dreams.

Clovis turns back to Nico’s nightmare. He had first found it because of the whispers. Soft breaths by his ear making him jerk away from thin air, a harsh male voice telling him Hurry, a girl in the distance faintly screaming Over here from what felt like miles away. It had made his knees wobble, but he couldn't ignore the words when he realized they were coming from a dream. They had only ever appeared after he was done leading people to his cabin, they didn't show up every night, and they didn’t appear unless he was in the in between. He’s used to following them to the door before stopping three feet from the threshold. Sometimes it feels like hours and sometimes it feels like minutes, but he always ends up staring at it, resisting the urge to run through and pull Nico di Angelo from whatever horror could make a nightmare so powerful as to be able to escape its own borders.

Now, the familiar whispers sounded strangely muffled. This was new, and wondering what could have caused it set him on edge. Gods he really shouldn't be out here, dreams were private and demigods already had to deal with people (and gods and monsters and probably other things) walking around in their dreams without their control. Besides, bad stuff always happens when he gets carried away enough to enter someone's dreams. In was just a fact of his life.

But this new something in Nico’s dream set his skin crawling and Clovis could feel his self control running out. He lifts up an arm and reaches his hand out, spreading it flat along the doors surface just enough to feel the brush of the cold smoke without actually touching it. This was probably a horrible idea, he’s just psyching himself up. He heaves a sigh and tips his head back even though there isn’t a sky to look at. Is he seriously going to do this?

Help him.

The whisper curls under his hand and Clovis steels himself. He is seriously doing this isn't he? With a step forward he presses against the doorway and he slips past as if it were a curtain of organza.

Gravel crunches under his slippers, and despite his thick grey sweatpants and orange camp T-shirt, Clovis is suddenly freezing. Like fog evaporating off of a window, Nico di Angelo becomes visible through the gloom. They’re in a massive cavern, the glinting tips of stalactites the only indication that there is anything above them, and standing on the rim of a pit that looked five times as big as Camp-Half Blood's lake stretching in front of them. Aside from their breathing the cavern is completely silent, as if the whispers hadn't even existed.

Yup. He did it.

Clovis had always thought Nico di Angelo was a cool guy. He had literally dreamed of Nico di Angelo. As a child of Hypnos, Clovis could always tell when he was dreaming about something that was happening in the waking world, so he knew when his dreams of Nico were real or not; Nico killing three empousai at once while defending a young demigod, Nico summoning skeletons to train with in a field, Nico playing fetch with a massive hellhound, Nico riding in the passenger seat of a jet black ferrari as a zombie drove them through New York traffic. And Nico could control dreams, which was something Clovis had only ever seen in his siblings. It… probably doesn’t help Clovis’ fascination that Nico is easy on the eyes. Very easy on the eyes.

Tall, (even though Nico had been shorter than Clovis when they first encountered each other) dark, handsome and strong, Nico was one of the coolest people Clovis could think of besides his mortal dad.

Now, Nico is standing only a few feet from the edge, his back to Clovis who is only a few feet behind him. Two good strides and Clovis could push Nico into the pit. He’s wearing a black leather bomber jacket, and washed out, torn up grey jeans cover his long legs, with the hems tucked into black combat boots. The Son of Hades is shivering in the dark, and Clovis can hear ragged, panicked breaths in the silence. Despite its size, the cave makes Clovis feel claustrophobic, and he desperately wants to pull Nico away from that pit.

Staring at it makes all of Clovis’ instincts go haywire getoutgetoutgetout. He distantly realizes that he didn't plan this far ahead. But they need to leave now so he’ll just have to wing it.

“Nico?”

Nico whirls around, dark eyes wide and wild, stygian iron sword drawn in a flash. At the sight of it Clovis throws his hands up.

“Woah! Nico, it's me, Clovis!”

Nico frowns, a dark look crossing his face, but he puts his sword away without taking his hand off of it. “You shouldn't be here.”

Clovis gives him a slow, nervous smile. “Uhm, I know, but I… I-uhm.”

Usually, Clovis works well under pressure but his words trail off under Nico’s intense piercing stare, and he almost forgets what he wanted to say. He licks his lips and glances behind Nico at the pit. He meets Nico’s eyes again and lowers his hands until they're just in front of his chest.

“I can help you out of here and to somewhere safe.” Nico gives him a searching look.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah!” Clovis is relieved enough at the idea of Nico considering his help to unconsciously step forward. “Or I could wake you up if you want but I wouldn’t recommend it because you need sleep and it won’t be a gen-”

“I don’t care, just wake me up.” Nico sharply interrupts him.

Clovis clams up. Even though he is used to it from people (it wasn’t like Nico hadn't done it before) and even though he knows Nico is rattled from this nightmare, it still stung to be interrupted in that tone of voice. But since he is used to it, he lets it roll off his back. He nods and drops his hands.

“Okay then, but don't say I didn't warn you.”

Nico huffs a sardonic laugh. Clovis takes the two steps needed to reach Nico but he must have been too sudden about it, because Nico flinches away from Clovis and stumbles. Clovis catches Nico by grabbing the furry lapels of his jacket with both hands and jerking Nico away. But now they're both three feet from the edge and the sense of terror permeating the dream washes over Clovis like having the lights flicked off after watching a scary movie.

Nico is still trembling. His dark eyes are distant and wide in terror, his face so bloodless he seems to glow in the gloom. Instinctively, Clovis knows the feelings are coming from the pit and he realizes with a jolt that Nico’s nightmare is progressing. This close, Clovis has to look up to meet Nico’s eyes, but Nico isn't really seeing him right now. Around them the cavern gets colder and darker.

“Nico? Are you with me?” Clovis asks, and gets no response. It’s like Nico has completely retreated into his own head. Clovis mutters to himself.

“Oh crap.” The feeling gets more and more urgent and Clovis moves to glance around Nico’s shoulder at the pit.

“Oh Ohhh no, that’s not good.” Clovis turns back to Nico and tugs him closer, almost bashing his forehead into Nico’s lip, their chests now pressed together. He can’t tell which racing heartbeat is his.

“Nico, I’m gonna wake you up now but I need you here with me to do it.” He gets no response.

“Nico? Nico!” The entire place reeks of evil and when Nico still doesn't answer him Clovis starts to tug Nico away from the edge. He didn't know what that feeling was but Nico seemed to, and whatever could cause Nico di friggin Angelo to freeze up like this was something Clovis wanted to be far, far away from. Three awkward stumbles away from the edge Nico comes back to himself enough to grasp Clovis’ wrists hard.

“What are you doing?” Nico growls loudly, glaring down at him.

“Waking you up!” Clovis snaps back.

“Well you aren't doing a good job of it!” Clovis clams up again, face scrunching into something pained.

“Alright then, on the count of three I’m going to tell you to wake up, and then you will. Got it?”

A pause, and then Nico nods. With every second that passes Clovis felt more and more hunted. Even though this cavern is full of pure silence, he feels like he’s in a horror movie with a suspenseful, blood rushing, musical number that will either end with a crescendo or cut off in a screech. He isn’t sure which ending he’ll get. He starts to count.

“One.” Clear as a bell, Clovis hears the gravel behind him shift.

“Two.”

He doesn't get to three.

Something slams between his shoulder blades, throwing him against Nico and raking white hot pain down his back like a whip. Clovis screams and the pain blacks out his vision. Nico shouts his name, but they’re already being sucked into the pit. As if the hole were breathing, Clovis and Nico are pulled over the edge, their feet effortlessly lifting from ground. Clovis feels like he’s being inhaled. The fall is like the worst roller coaster ride Clovis has ever been on. His stomach drops and the pain burning across his back makes him break out into a cold sweat, his back is arched and he’s clinging to Nico’s jacket like a lifeline as they tumble through open space. Nico’s hands hold his’ wrists just as hard.

Clovis opens his eyes to black at the sound of his name. “-ovis! Clovis!”

“I’m here.” He croaks out even though the howling air around them is probably drowning out his voice. Nico must hear him anyways.

“What just happened?”

Clovis feels like he can barely breathe. “I don't know.”

Nico is trembling so hard Clovis was surprised his teeth weren't chattering. “Me neither.”

With dread Clovis realizes what Nico means. “This wasn't a part of your nightmare was it.”

Their clothes are whipping around them, Clovis’ shirt flapping and beating against the ragged lines across his back. His entire back feels like it's throbbing, and he’s sure that if he checked, blood would be smeared across it. His blond curls are tangling across his face as if he were riding in a car with the window down. He’s freezing and he feels faint.

Nico’s response sounds haunted. “No.”

Deep down, Clovis knew something about all of this was terribly, terribly wrong. The senses he uses to navigate dreams felt dull and cut off, and as he becomes more aware through the pain, the more he realizes that he needs Nico to wake up, because he doesn't know what would happen if he didn’t.

“Nico, I can still wake you up.”

“What do you mean by still? What’s wrong?”

In the dark he feels Nico pull him closer, one of his arms circling around to Clovis’ back and a palm pressing against the open wounds Clovis knew were there. Clovis yowled and his vision went white in the darkness.

“Holy Hades, you're hurt!” Nico’s hand quickly left his back, disappearing only to show up as an icy touch against the back of his neck. Nico’s hand feels good in a way that makes Clovis belatedly wonder if he has a fever. His other arm carefully wraps to press against the small of Clovis’ back, long fingers clutching his (probably bloody) shirt. “What’s wrong with you?”

Tell me about it. Instead of answering, Clovis moves to wrap an arm around Nico’s back, and then slides the other up to cover Nico’s eyes. This way they’re pressed together from shoulder to hip and the solidarity of Nico being there with him is a relief. Long eyelashes flutter against his palm. Nico’s dark hair is soft, and the wind makes it wisp against the back of Clovis’ hand like feathers.

“It doesn’t matter. I just need you to wake up.” Clovis says urgently. If Nico resisted him Clovis might not be able to get him out in time.(In time?) His power felt like it was running out, lights flicking off one by one, but Clovis didn’t know who was at the lightswitch.

“But-”

“Wake up!”

“Clovis-” Nico kept trying.

With frustration he pulls Nico as close as possible, pressing them together until his lips are brushing against Nico’s ear. Clovis takes a leaf out of Aphrodite's book and focuses on channeling as much of his leftover power into his voice as possible and instead of shouting, he whispers in the dark.

“Close your eyes, and _wake up_.”

\------

Drew Tanaka woke up with a jolt. Across the Aphrodite cabin she hears someone roll out of their bed and by the soft whine she can tell that it was her sister Chloe. Annoyance spikes through her and she pulls off her sleeping mask to stare at the ceiling. She turns over to look for Chloe when she hears her start crawling back into bed. The faint purple glow from the cabin’s nightlight lets her see that Chloe doesn't bother laying back down, instead, after a minute of silence, she just sits cross legged under the covers and takes the hairband off of her dirty-blond braid to start absentmindedly unravelling it.

“Chloe.” Drew calls out suddenly. Her little sister jumps in fright but calm when she looks across the cabin to see Drew looking at her.

“You're awake too?” Chloe asks. Drew rolls her eyes.

“Obviously.”

“Oh.” Drew sits up to sit cross legged. She won't be getting back to sleep tonight. Drew glances at the clock they have hung above their door, and even though it's dark she can see that it’s a little past four AM.

“That idiot must have messed up if we got kicked out of the dream.” Chloe huffs at her.

“He isn’t an idiot and you know it Drew.” Drew makes a face. She did know. She highly doubted that making an entire dreamscape and dragging countless demigods to it every night was a simple task, but Drew wasn’t going to admit that. She had a reputation to uphold.

“And I’m sure there's a good reason for it. Clovis is powerful. I believe in him.” Drew almost rolled her eyes at her sister’s obvious crush. She isn't sure if it is a romantic, platonic or something in-between crush, but it is still sappy enough to make her want to gag.

“But I have a bad feeling.” Chloe says.  
  
Drew is quiet.

\---

In Cabin Thirteen Nico di Angelo wakes with a long, loud gasp, as if a large weight has been lifted off of his chest. He lays panting for a moment, eyes scrunched closed as he concentrates on slowing his heartbeat. Slowly, he calms down. His eyes flutter open, and he turns his head to stare at the brazier burning at the center of the room, it's green flames flickering light throughout the cabin.

He can't completely calm his heartbeat though. Clovis saw his nightmare. The fact that Clovis saw something that personal, saw the Son of Hades weak and trembling and vulnerable makes Nico feel like throwing up. But he also feels like something is terribly, terribly wrong. Clovis getting hurt in his dream like that has never happened before, and Nico is scared to look at his hands and find them slick with blood. Clovis’ shirt had felt drenched, and his entire body had felt like he was burning up. Nico has never seen anything like it.

That doesn't stop him from glaring at the fire. Clovis shouldn't have been in his nightmare. Nico knows that for the most part, Clovis can control where he goes in dreams and he had no business being in Nico’s. Especially not one of those nightmares.

Nico is still a little grateful though. Clovis woke him up, and now Nico doesn't have to suffer through another hour or two of that place. Remembering the way Clovis’ mouth and voice felt against his ear makes his stomach knot, and he can't tell if it's a bad feeling or not.

He sits up in his bed, his comforter pooling around his waist, and drags a hand through his hair as he sighs. He estimates that it's way too early to be up, but doesn't want to try going back to sleep. That wouldn't end well. He decides to just take his time getting ready for the day before reading or something until breakfast and he lets himself smile. Today he’s signed up to teach combat classes while Will Solace teaches archery, and being around his boyfriend always makes him feel better even if they won't be able to do much but tease each other about their teaching skills.

Nico scrubs his hands over his face and takes a deep breath. Well, time to get this day started. Hopefully it isn't as rough as his morning.

\---

Hours later, after the sun has risen and breakfast has passed, Delta Dunajski wakes up slowly to knocking on their cabin door. He lurches out of bed half-asleep and stumbles to pull it open. He yawns widely when he opens it and rubs his eyes at the bright morning light.

Chloe Beaumont stands on the other side, barely reaching his elbow, but with a fiercely concerned look pinching her brow.

“Is Clovis here?”

Delta stares for a bit, processing what she’s said as he wakes fully. It's weird, usually they're all up earlier than this. He can tell that it's at least ten am even though Clovis usually wakes him and his sister up for breakfast every morning. He realizes what she’s asking and looks over his shoulder back at Clovis’ bunk. Like he thought, his older brother is there buried under the covers, although he isn't murmuring in his sleep like usual, and he isn't snoring either.

Delta straightens his glasses on his nose (he must have fallen asleep with them on again even though Clovis reminded him to take them off), and turns to walk over and shake his brother, Chloe trailing behind him. His sister is still asleep in her bunk, limbs sprawled out and poking out from under her covers.

“Clovis.” He shakes his shoulder. Clovis has a heavy brown quilt pulled up to his chin, his back towards them, and when Delta shakes him he doesn't respond.

“Clooooooviiiiiissss come on, wake up.” He whines, and huffs when Clovis still lays there.

“Is he alright?” Chloe ask. Delta frowns. Something is off. He glances at her and hesitates. He decides to just pull the covers off of Clovis since that usually wakes him up. He grabs the edge of the quilt and pulls it back with a woosh. They both freeze solid. Chloe claps her hands over her mouth and Delta bites back a scream.


End file.
